I can see more changes within North Korea. For example, the young Dear Leader is bringing back the ruling Workers' Party of Korea as the main force of North Korea's political, social, and economical engine. (source) Kim Jong-il was the one who neglected the party and imposed a military rule. Basically his son is undoing the father's crimes. Or you can strangely say that North Korea has been constitutionally an occupied colony run by its own military. This is a good thing. I have relatives in Japan who usually vote for the pro-North Korean political party (and they're Roman Catholics, a rarity in Japan) and I worked in South Korea before. Come to think of it, I do think both North Korea and South Korea are equally evil.

SweetHomeNowhere:I can see more changes within North Korea. For example, the young Dear Leader is bringing back the ruling Workers' Party of Korea as the main force of North Korea's political, social, and economical engine. (source) Kim Jong-il was the one who neglected the party and imposed a military rule. Basically his son is undoing the father's crimes. Or you can strangely say that North Korea has been constitutionally an occupied colony run by its own military. This is a good thing. I have relatives in Japan who usually vote for the pro-North Korean political party (and they're Roman Catholics, a rarity in Japan) and I worked in South Korea before. Come to think of it, I do think both North Korea and South Korea are equally evil.

No, see South Korea is on our side. So they are the good guys, spreading freedom and liberty.

Satanic_Hamster:Seriously, has this ever come up in a conversation? WHY would anyone visit NK as a tourist? Even ignoring that it's a shiathole, why would anyone risk being kidnapped or just outright shot?

For the life of me I can't understand that. It's one thing to visit a country where you have to worry about getting killed due to crime. But getting murdered by the government of that country?

1. North Korea is notoriously isolated and "mysterious", and as such is intriguing to a lot of people.

2. South Koreans have complex attitudes toward the North, but don't forget that the two nations share a common ethnic, linguistic and cultural heritage that stretches back far longer than the Koreas have spent apart. Many South Koreans have roots in the North and/or family there. It's natural to want to visit your ancestral homeland.

3. At least as a tourist/visitor, it's not difficult (although it's often stifling) to stay on the right side of the government "minders" that accompany foreigners everywhere. You may have things confiscated or be deported, but imprisonment or execution are unlikely unless you really fark things up. They want tourists to show off the glories of Best Korea to, not extra diplomatic incidents.

I've no interest in acting as an apologist for North Korea, but I do have an interest in good information.Do a search for some stories about visitors to NK. Read articles and such (I really enjoy Guy DeLisle's comic-form travelogue, Pyongyang.) It's very interesting.

MountainClimber:Satanic_Hamster: Scaryduck: Satanic_Hamster: Is this the same resort where they shot a South Korean tourist for getting too far from the resort?

Why, yes. Yes it is.

Ooooo. I hear that resort is.... To die for.

Thank you thank you, please remember to tip your waitress. And what kind of idiot would go to that resort again?

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Best Koreans must be so confused right now since their Supreme Commander invited an American to come play B-ball with him. They grew up being brainwashed into hating Americans and everything they stand for, yet Kim Jong-Un is BFF with one.

North Korea's state-run media have called the Swiss decision a "serious human rights abuse that politicises sports and discriminates against the Koreans". Kim called it "a pity", but said Masik Pass would have three functioning lifts this year.

Wow. The hypocrisy of that statement could set the atmosphere on fire. Holy god.

I wonder what the sign actually does say. Skiing-related propaganda, or just generic propaganda?

I can't read all of the sign because the angle makes it difficult to see the entire board, so I can only translate the left part that's towards the camera. The top bit says "Great General Comrade Kim Jung Un as leader of the nation . . . ." then the main text says, "Attack first to the utter destruction . . . " and the blue text on the lower left says, "Attack toward the front!"

It looks like more songun propaganda, but I'd have to see the whole thing to be sure.

If you want to visit North Korea, it;s easy to do. Just go to Koryo Tours and book a trip. It's going to be expensive, you're going to be watched the entire time, and your itinerary will be identical to that of every other tourist to NK, but still it's unlike any other place on Earth so it's well worth checking out.

BorgiaGinz:If you want to visit North Korea, it;s easy to do. Just go to Koryo Tours and book a trip. It's going to be expensive, you're going to be watched the entire time, and your itinerary will be identical to that of every other tourist to NK, but still it's unlike any other place on Earth so it's well worth checking out.

No, thanks. Never mind the concept of having a vacation tour in a country that thinks America is doing this to them as revenge for North Korea's brilliant military strategy, never mind trying to "have fun" in what amounts to one of the largest subsistence prisons on the planet - the very idea that I could be imprisoned, tortured, used as political leverage, or even killed, simply because I was stupid enough to end up inside the borders of a country desperate to demonstrate how prosperous they are (while the majority of their citizens starve) and modern they are (while they spend more than 25 years trying to build a single hotel) to the rest of the world tends to dampen my enthusiasm for visiting North friggin' Korea.

I can stay home, listen to teabaggers, and safely enjoy that kind of complete & total delusion with little fear, thanks.